Sacramento Business Journal
by Mark Anderson, Staff Writer
The tribe that owns Thunder Valley Casino has another big building
project on tap, but this one likely won't stir nearly as much
controversy.
The United Auburn Indian Community is looking to build 110 homes for
tribe members on 1,100 acres in rural Placer County.
The project has been years in gestation. The tribe long has planned
to develop housing for its 255 members, and in 1999 optioned the hills
and creeks overlooking the Bear River, downstream from Camp Far West
Reservoir. That was before the opening of Thunder Valley, which
generates an estimated $200 million a year in profits.
Now, initial work on the homes has begun, in the form of an
environmental study. Details are sketchy, but they include communal
ownership of all the large-lot homes in the master-planned development
and lots of open space. Construction would avoid streams and wetlands;
there would be stables for horses and places to ride them.
There's now only a farmhouse on the land. The acreage is used for
grazing cattle.
Unlike the 2003 development of the $215 million casino, which led to
lawsuits by the neighboring cities of Roseville and Rocklin, the
proposed development of homes is barely causing a stir. Some of the
comments in response to the notice that an environmental report was
planned called for a study of traffic impacts.
"There are some issues that need to be addressed, and the tribe is
addressing them," said Howard Dickstein, the attorney representing the
tribe.
"The consensus of the people out in this neck of the woods is that
people can do whatever they want to with their land. I don't think
they're going to get any great opposition," said Richard Ross, an
attorney and neighbor on an 85-acre cattle ranch. He's also president
of the Tahoe Cattlemen's Association.
The conversion of the land to housing from cattle grazing isn't a
loss; it's only marginal grazing land anyway, he said.
"The tribe has had that for years for their homes. That isn't one of
the developments we're concerned about," said Nick Greco, a rancher in
rural Placer County and president of Western Placer Citizens for
Agricultural and Rural Environment. The group has opposed upscale
residential development projects such as Clover Valley in Rocklin and
Bickford Ranch near Loomis. Those projects would have more homes per
acre than the tribe is proposing.
"The tribe has demonstrated that it builds high-level construction
projects. They don't cut corners," Dickstein said. " The tribe has a
good track record. "
The homes and land would be communally owned, as traditional
reservations have been organized, but this would be no reservation. The
homes would not be for sale and could not be sold outside the tribe
unless members allowed it.
Ownership of the 26 custom homes on the Rumsey Rancheria in Yolo
County is structured in a similar way. The homes are owned by the
tribe, not by individual members, said Doug Elmets, spokesman for the
Rumsey Band. The tribe owns Cache Creek Casino Resort, commercial real
estate and a variety of other assets.
The United Auburn tribe's site is northeast of the Placer County
town of Sheridan, about 20 miles from Thunder Valley Casino. It is just
off Camp Far West Road on Karchner Road.
Adjacent property uses include private homes, cattle grazing and
crop production, recreation at Camp Far West Reservoir and aggregate
mining at Patterson Sand and Gravel.
The acreage encompasses nine parcels that used to be the Karchner
Ranch. Along with a farmhouse, it is dotted with some barns and storage
buildings, and crossed by power lines and towers.
The tribe is proposing 110 residential lots of about 5 acres each.
The lots are drawn to allow open space in the wetlands, steep slopes
and numerous creeks on the property. In addition to the homes, there
would be an administrative center, a community center, a school,
infirmary, day care and a picnic pavilion, as well as athletic fields
and an equestrian center.
There is no retail proposed in the community, but it would build its
own wastewater treatment plant. Water would come from an on-site
well.
The county's general plan has the land designated as farmland, which
allows for a home on every 10 acres. The project complies with that.
The tribe, in a January 2000 agreement with Placer County covering
details of the development and mitigation of Thunder Valley Casino,
agreed on a full environmental impact report on the property.
The tribe used to have a rancheria in Newcastle, but that was sold
by the federal government in the 1950s when it was policy to mainstream
and integrate Native Americans into U.S. society by getting rid of
reservations. Some tribe members bought the rancheria parcels, but the
land is not held by the tribe.
